Return to 1958 and build a century-old giant

Chapter 919 New Film City
"The Japan Space Agency?" Yang Wendong thought for a moment and said, "We can try to communicate with them and see if we can lower the price from Europe and America. But I think Japan is still a competitor of us in the Asian film and television industry, so it's best not to choose them. You're a professional, what do you think?"

Qi Ruifan said, "The Japanese entertainment industry does compete with us to some extent, but Japan is strong in animation, while we are strong in movies and Hong Kong dramas, so there shouldn't be much conflict between us."

Yang Wendong shook his head and said, "Just because it's not big now doesn't mean it won't be big in the future. Even Southeast Asia, after its economic rise, is pursuing the development of its local culture. Not to mention Japan, with its population size and economic strength, once it starts developing its local cultural industry, it will definitely achieve some success."

Historically, although Hong Kong pop culture was popular in Asia for a period of time, Japanese entertainment culture was the same. Especially around the 90s, after the collapse of Hong Kong entertainment, Japanese entertainment completely took over Southeast Asia.

Of course, Japanese entertainment was later replaced by Korean entertainment, which was also closely related to national strength.
Qi Ruifan added, "That's possible, but we're dealing with Japan's official space agency and entertainment industry. It shouldn't affect them, right?"

Yang Wendong said, "It's hard to say about Japanese conglomerates. Don't use our thinking to consider Japan or Europe and America. Their capitalists have much stronger control over the government than we do."

The position of Governor of Hong Kong is not elected by the people, but appointed by the British. This means that Hong Kong capital does not have the same possibility of manipulating the election as in Europe and the United States.
It can be said that this is one of the few places in the world where capital cannot influence the government, which is similar to the situation in mainland China.

Qi Ruifan said, "Okay, I understand. I will make some contact with the Japan Space Agency."

"I remember Japan and mainland China launched satellites into space in the same year," Yang Wendong thought for a moment and said, "What do you think about us cooperating with the mainland? How about they launch it?"

In Asia, although Japan's technology was stronger than that of mainland China in the 1960s and 70s, it was unable to research rockets because of its status as a ZBG (China Broadcasting Corporation). Therefore, mainland China was actually the number one in Asia at that time.

Therefore, for political reasons, the United States did not want mainland China to become the number one rocket launcher in Asia. Thus, in the early 70s, it vigorously helped Japan develop rocket technology, eventually getting ahead of mainland China by a few months, but the results were basically the same.

Theoretically speaking, cooperation with the mainland is also possible;
Yang Wendong had naturally considered this matter long ago. In the early 90s, Li Ka-shing also commissioned the mainland to launch a satellite.
However, the mainland has only recently begun its reform and opening up, and the aerospace field has not yet been commercialized, so the timing is somewhat different.

Qi Ruifan said, "Theoretically, it should be possible, but will the mainland accept our request?"

"Give it a try. If it doesn't work, that's fine. If it does, we can talk about it again." Yang Wendong thought for a moment and said, "Assess the risks, do a thorough investigation, and then we'll discuss it further."

Satellite manufacturing and launch are measured in years. If a problem occurs, the financial loss is a minor issue, but the lost time is significant. Given the high cost, it's impossible to have a backup plan.

While China's aviation technology may be strong in the future, it still cannot compare to NASA's in this era.
Although Yang Wendong sometimes dislikes Americans, he has to admit that NASA deserves more than 70% of the credit for human exploration of space, and in the field of technology, it is also leading by a cliff in this era.

The previous manned lunar landings left countries around the world bewildered. Yang Wendong also had some doubts, but since so many countries, including Russia and mainland China, had not spoken out, he took it as tacit agreement.

Of course, NASA is indeed more stable, but they also have their own missions and may not prioritize their own projects, while other aviation agencies may.

Therefore, he also needs to comprehensively consider factors such as price, time, satellite lifespan, technology, and operation.

Qi Ruifan said, "Okay, I understand."

"Okay, that's settled then. Is there anything else?" Yang Wendong asked casually.

Qi Ruifan said, "Mr. Yang, there are two more things I need to report to you."

The first thing was that CCTV from mainland China contacted TVB, wanting to learn wire work techniques from us.

"You don't need to tell me about such a small thing, do you?" Yang Wendong asked back.

Qi Ruifan said, "Yes, it's a small matter, but I've talked with several directors from CCTV and they think that TVB can cooperate with them in the long term. CCTV itself also wants to introduce our TV dramas."

There are many excellent actors and directors on the mainland, but they lack funding. We can be said to complement each other. Secondly, the TV series that CCTV co-produces with us can also be broadcast in Hong Kong or even other parts of Asia.

I've watched some TV dramas produced by CCTV, and some of them are of quite good quality. We could even collaborate on films.

“The film industry? I remember the movie ‘Shaolin Temple’ was quite popular in China. You could talk to Raymond Chow about bringing the lead actor to Hong Kong.” Yang Wendong thought for a moment and then said, “If you want to cooperate with CCTV in the long term, that’s fine too. I have no problem with that. It would be better to have this relationship, as my other businesses in the mainland will also need to cooperate with CCTV in the future.”

Before the advent of the internet in mainland China, CCTV was the largest controller of traffic in the country. In the 90s, many large companies fought tooth and nail for a 15-second prime-time advertisement on CCTV.
Even in the mobile internet era, giants like Alipay, WeChat Red Packets, and Douyin need to leverage the popularity of CCTV's Spring Festival Gala to attract users to their platforms.
“Okay, Mr. Yang,” Qi Ruifan said. “CCTV is preparing to film the Four Great Classical Novels. I think we can invest in it. It doesn’t cost much, just a few million per film.”

"The Four Great Classical Novels? Journey to the West?" Yang Wendong thought for a moment. The most famous Journey to the West in his previous life seemed to have been filmed in 1983, which matched the current time.

Qi Ruifan said, "Yes, we will start filming Journey to the West this year. It's because Journey to the West has a lot of flying and fighting action, which mainland directors don't know how to do and don't have the corresponding equipment, so they came to Hong Kong to learn."

Yang Wendong laughed and said, "Okay, let's invest then. Let the mainland film a better one. We'll just take the overseas rights to 'Journey to the West.' We don't know about the revenue sharing in the mainland, and there's official interference, so we'd rather not have it."

The most famous classic of its time, "Journey to the West," is also extremely popular overseas and can be considered a classic.

It was only because of a lack of money that they even tried to take advantage of the Ministry of Railways. The crew suffered a lot before they were able to film 25 episodes. It was only because of insufficient funds that they were able to continue filming 15 episodes later when they had enough money.
It's a real shame. If I could invest a little, I could improve the quality and length of the content and get a substantial financial return. It would be a worthwhile investment no matter how you look at it.

“Overseas copyright? That’s a good idea. We can use that for our future collaborations with the mainland.” Qi Ruifan laughed, “Mr. Yang, you’re really amazing.” “Alright, enough with the flattery. What’s the second thing?” Yang Wendong asked again.

Qi Ruifan replied, "It's also related to the mainland. I want to invest in and build a large-scale film and television city in the mainland."

"Film and television city? Aren't the ones in Tseung Kwan O enough?" Yang Wendong asked rhetorically.

Thanks to his early investments, the current film studio is much larger than the original film studios in Hong Kong.

Qi Ruifan replied, "It's a bit insufficient. I'm doing alright on my end, but the Hong Kong film market is extremely prosperous these days, and there are a lot of period dramas. We often can't keep up with the schedule, so we have to do extra shooting late at night with extra lighting. But doing so greatly affects the quality of the film content. No matter how much we work at night, it can't compare to shooting during the day."

In addition, while the film city in Tseung Kwan O is indeed quite large, it lacks large palaces and buildings. This results in a lack of grand scenes in both TV series and movies, making them appear fake in some cases, which has caused dissatisfaction among many consumers.

Therefore, I'm thinking of choosing a suitable location in mainland China to build a large-scale ancient costume film and television city, about the size of a miniature Forbidden City, with ancient backgrounds from various dynasties. This would greatly benefit the future development of Hong Kong's film and television industry.

After listening, Yang Wendong nodded in agreement and said, "What you said makes sense. If the filming location is not suitable, it will indeed severely limit the upper limit of Hong Kong's film and television industry."

The core of the film industry consists of theaters, film crews, and filming locations; none of these three can be missing.

Looking back at TVB dramas from my past life, although the content was genuinely well done, the scenes were really terrible. For example, the army battles in "Twin of Brothers" felt like there were only a few dozen or at most a hundred people, which seriously affected the viewing experience.

In addition, period dramas and historical dramas will be severely limited without a good film and television city. Even if there is a great production team, it is useless without the necessary equipment.

"Alright, I'll send someone to investigate inland cities and see which ones are suitable." Qi Ruifan paused, then asked, "Mr. Yang, should we consider real estate as well?"

As a member of Changxing Group, he naturally knew that his boss considered the future real estate benefits when making many industrial investments.

“You don’t need that. Don’t build it near a city. Choose a more distant suburb.” Yang Wendong shook his head and said, “Otherwise, once our film studio is built, the city will have already built its skyscrapers. How will we film then? It will be completely ruined.”

When choosing a location, you must negotiate with the local government to ensure that once the film studio is built, there are no large high-rise buildings or large factories within a certain radius. The specific conditions are up to you.

While I am concerned about the future of the mainland real estate market, there are plenty of ways to invest. Without affecting my own business, it would be even better to hoard land as well.
However, some industries are directly opposed to the real estate market, so they need to take a different approach.

Qi Ruifan replied, "Okay, I understand."

"Yes, try to choose Guangdong Province, so that it will be more convenient to travel back and forth in the future." Yang Wendong added, "In addition, we can discuss with Zheng Zhijie about building some tourist hotels to facilitate the actors' accommodation, but they cannot be high-rise buildings."
He definitely understands this; you can discuss it with him. If you're going to build a film studio, you'll need cooperation from Changxing Real Estate anyway.

"Yes, Mr. Yang." Qi Ruifan replied, "I'll go find him now, and I'll report back to you once I have a preliminary result."

"Okay, sure." Yang Wendong nodded.
He only needs to acknowledge and know the final conclusion of these matters; he won't be too involved in the process.
For him, projects worth hundreds of millions or even billions are no longer worth spending too much energy on, otherwise he would be extremely busy.

The purpose of making money in life is actually to live a more leisurely life. Many people do the opposite; the bigger their business, the busier they become, and they even end up ruining their health, which is unnecessary.
Another month has passed, and Yang Wendong has made new progress once again;

Qi Ruifan came to report: "Mr. Yang, the mainland aviation authorities have already contacted us. They are conducting technical discussions based on our requirements, but it may take some time before there is any progress."

Yang Wendong said, "Yes, follow closely behind. Also, the United States, Japan, and Europe should follow as well. All parties should pay attention. In the end, we just need to lock in a suitable candidate."

“Okay, Mr. Yang.” Qi Ruifan continued, “We have also invested HK$300 million in the production team of ‘Journey to the West’ and acquired all the overseas rights for ‘Journey to the West’ in the future.”
Because of our investment, their original 25-episode series was expanded to 45 episodes.

Yang Wendong said, "Okay, let's also see if we can arrange for some Hong Kong actors to join."

“Their lead actor has already been chosen, so changing him would be quite troublesome,” Qi Ruifan said.

Yang Wendong said, "We don't need the main characters, just some supporting roles with some weight, such as some gods in the heavens. This can be considered as giving some Hong Kong supporting actors a chance."

With his involvement, the TV series "Journey to the West" will inevitably become more famous than the original historical version, which will also be an opportunity for Hong Kong actors.

“Okay,” Qi Ruifan said. “I’ve also arranged for a lot of equipment to go to the mainland for this filming. This is the first large-scale collaboration between Hong Kong and the mainland, and we must make it a success.”

“Okay, take all of this seriously. I hope to see ‘Journey to the West’ on screen as soon as possible.” Yang Wendong nodded and said, “Also, we can consider co-producing three other classic novels, or some other programs from the mainland. The entertainment industries of the mainland and Hong Kong are highly complementary. We should make full use of this and make the 10 billion viewers in the mainland one of our markets.”

Whether it's Hong Kong films or television dramas, if they can capture the mainland market in the future, they won't decline like they did in the past.

The film and television industry has a long supply chain. In the past, during the peak of Hong Kong's entertainment industry, there were 3 people engaged in related work, and now there are only more.
If this industry can be preserved, it will greatly benefit Hong Kong's economy and employment.

PS: Please give me a monthly ticket
(End of this chapter)