1982 Started from Hong Kong

Chapter 403 Another victory

'Overnight fame! The real winner of Thousand Stars [Girls' Generation] opens a new era in the music industry!'

'The King of Bridge created nine hit songs for Girls' Generation. Many well-known music critics said it was impossible, and whether they were original or plagiarized caused controversy! '

'The fans were too crazy, Girls' Generation was surrounded when they walked out of the venue, and security was dispatched urgently!'

'TVB's ratings are off the charts, Girls' Generation has set the highest ratings for charity shows ever...'

……

The concert ended successfully, and buying hot searches was a basic operation.

Whether making fun of herself or bragging about herself, the topic always involves the Girls' Generation logo.

This is when the benefits of capitalism are reflected.

The "September 1st Daily" offended many of its peers, but as long as the money was paid, everyone continued to put the news on the prominent front page.

After one night, Girls' Generation became a new popular symbol in Hong Kong.

"Contact Ms. Xue from Hua En Department Store and give away 10,000 CDs of last night's concert for free to use as charity for the Tung Wah Group of Hospitals. Also, distribute tens of thousands of hardcover copies and place them in various CD rental shops. Ask each shop to replace their posters with Huimin and the others'. You can go to Hua En's distributors to get an extra batch of goods next month."

After returning to Jiuyi Entertainment in the morning, Zhai Yuan sat at his desk and gave orders to his colleagues in the marketing and public relations departments.

Seeing that he had dark circles under his eyes, Li Zhi brought him a cup of strong tea and asked curiously, "Mr. Zhai, you didn't even attend the dinner last night. Why were you busy until late?"

"I left the stage early to help the girls adjust their pitch. I'm a little tired."

Zhai Yuan yawned and asked with a smile: "How does it feel to be a bad guy?"

Li Zhi's face fell when he heard this, knowing that he was asking about what happened when the host was giving his speech on the stage after the concert last night.

"It was Zhou Runfa who offended you, why do you want me to teach him a lesson?"

Li Zhi pouted in dissatisfaction, looking frightened: "The celebration cake on the stage is 16 inches big, I have to hold it up with both hands and smash it on his face as you ordered. Zeng Zhiwei next to him was so scared that he was afraid that Zhou Runfa would turn against me and hit me."

Zhai Yuan smiled and said, "Did he do anything?"

Lizhi shook his head and smiled secretly.

Zhai Yuan's secretary, Li Lu Yanqun's adopted daughter, now Li Zhi is just relying on the power of others to bully others, and second- and third-tier stars can only smile at her.

Zhai Yuan asked: "Is it very enjoyable?"

Lizhi thought about it, made a gesture with two fingers to insult South Korea, and smiled a little bit sinisterly: "Yes, a little bit."

Last night, she followed Zhai Yuan's instructions before he left and, under the pretext of celebrating the successful performance, smashed the entire cake on Zhou Runfa's face.

Looking at the stunned expressions of the stars around her, the busty girl felt somewhat secretly happy.

A month ago, in this situation, the only one who would be bullied would be her, the "Northern girl".

Zhai Yuan also smiled.

The cake on his face is a small punishment for Fa Ge.

In a parallel universe, at the same Thousand Stars concert, two hosts, Chow Yun-fat and Lee Chi, were on the same stage, and Chow Yun-fat smashed the cake on Lee Chi's delicately made-up face.

At that time, the Hong Kong media called it a prank, but in fact it was just the Nanya people bullying the mainlanders!

Li Zhi was angry after leaving the stage and did not attend the celebration party that night. It was also reported that she was stingy.

Today.

Fa Ge seems to be very generous.

Last night, he was caught on camera getting hit in the face with a cake. In an interview today, he clarified to reporters: "Ms. Li was just playing a joke with me. Throwing the cake was something we had agreed on backstage. You all know I like to joke around. Please don't over-interpret and damage the relationship between us good friends..."

This is a very emotionally intelligent answer.

"Actually, after listening to your story, I realized that Zhou Runfa was afraid of being banned by Formosa, so he didn't dare to accept the role in A Better Tomorrow."

Secretary Li Zhi felt that he had been the bad guy and felt a little guilty. He said, "We are all trying to make a living in this industry. Please calm down and forgive him~"

"Be kind?"

"I can relate. I feel bad when I'm excluded."

"talk later."

Zhai Yuan smiled noncommittally, then changed the subject and asked, "By the way, when will the people from Shueisha come over?"

Lizhi remembered that she still had her job to do and immediately put Zhou Runfa's matter behind her.

She raised her wrist to check the time and said, "I arranged a car to pick someone up at the hotel ten minutes ago. The person should be here soon."

Zhai Yuan stood up, stretched himself, and brushed off his clothes: "You are a guest from afar, I will go downstairs to greet you first..."

…………

In the 1970s, Japanese comics quickly entered Hong Kong with the help of pirated merchants from Taiwan.

At that time, the only authentic animation introduced into Hong Kong was "Doraemon (Ding Dong)", which was broadcast on Hong Kong TV stations.

Subsequently, magazine publishing houses in Hong Kong, led by Howard Johnson Books, followed the example of pirated merchants in Formosa and began to pirate large quantities of Japanese comics in Hong Kong.

Among them, the works of cartoonists such as Mochizuki Sankiya, Nagaan Takumi, and Ikegami Ryoichi are the most pirated because of their adult style.

Since then, a group of Hong Kong comic writers such as Huang Yulang and Ma Rongcheng have been exposed to Japanese comics. From plagiarism to imitation, they gradually developed their own style.

"As far as I know, the three major pirated magazine companies in Hong Kong today, Howard Johnson Books, Seal Books, and Tianlong Selected, pirate Japanese comics every year..."

In the conference room, Zhai Yuan and Nishixie Michiko sat together.

Opposite him were the head of Shueisha's Home Studio, Kenji Sato, as well as legal affairs staff, assistants, and others.

To discuss business, there is no need to contact cartoonists like Akira Toriyama.

As long as they can deal with the top management headed by Shueisha, cartoonists are just employees and only need to show up when the publishing house opens.

Zhai Yuan pretended to take a report and flipped through two pages, then looked up and smiled at Sato Kenji: "...Especially the works of your company and its branch Hakusensha. Every year, these three magazines pirate more than 20 works, even girls' comics. Tsk tsk, how can people be like this? They grab a sheep and pull it to death. As a cultural and entertainment worker who respects originality, I feel sad for my compatriots, Mr. Sato."

Michiko quickly translated Zhai Yuan's words verbatim.

Kenji Sato showed a helpless smile. In fact, everyone in Shueisha had been scolding Hong Kong's pirated booksellers for years, and as a result, they had no good feelings towards Hong Kong people.

However, now that he was in Zhai Yuan's territory, he could only smile politely and said, "This is also due to interests and human nature, but we believe that there are more good friends like Zhai Sang in Hong Kong. What really needs to be condemned is the inaction of the Hong Kong British government, which allowed a small number of unscrupulous businessmen to act recklessly."

He is quite good at talking, and he immediately shifted the conflict to the white guy.

Zhai Yuan smiled but said nothing. The pirated booksellers in Hong Kong are indeed somewhat unkind, not only do they fleece the Japanese comics industry, but they also compete fiercely with each other.

Howard Johnson Bookstore and Tianlong Select are wholeheartedly engaged in the piracy business.

When it was Seal Books' turn to enter the market, they directly advertised that all their comics were officially imported.

In reality, he contacted a shell publishing house under a Japanese record company and spent tens of thousands of dollars to buy the copyrights of a batch of genuine third-rate comics in Japan. He returned to Hong Kong to continue pirating popular IPs such as "Dragon Ball" and "Doraemon", and also produced a "Weekly Comics" magazine that imitated "Weekly Shonen Jump" to confirm that he owned the copyright.

In fact, in a mixed magazine of "Weekly Comics", there are only one or two pages of truly licensed comics.

But this did not affect Seal Books' moral high ground. Relying on this operation, it then asked the police to assist its company in confiscating other pirated magazines and comics.

After a bloody storm broke out in the piracy world, various piracy companies also reacted and began to learn from this method.

Copyright disputes are becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish between true and false.

This made Toyo Publishing, which already had difficulty fighting this type of cross-border infringement lawsuit, extremely anxious, and it simply gave up the Hong Kong and Formosa markets.

"I know that the Toyo publishing houses, led by Shueisha, are now appealing to the United States, hoping to introduce international regulations to sanction the piracy chaos in East Asia."

Zhai Yuan smiled and said, "But everyone knows that if it does not involve the vital interests of the Americans, how long will they delay the introduction of relevant laws? Five years or ten years?"

Kenji Sato exchanged glances with the team behind him.

Dongyang Guizi looked at Zhai Yuan again, smiled, and asked, "Mr. Zhai, do you have any good suggestions?"

After beating around the bush for a long time, we finally get to the point.

Michiko Nishixie glanced at Zhai Yuan and said with a smile, "Mr. Sato, our President Zhai is well-known in Hong Kong and has many friends. If Shueisha is willing to cooperate with 91 Entertainment, with President Zhai's connections and influence in Hong Kong, I believe the local piracy chaos can be solved quickly. The infringement cases that Japanese people cannot fight in Hong Kong can be easily solved by Hong Kong people, especially a Hong Kong government official like him who is committed to charity."

Leave the bragging to the woman, and Michiko also points out Zhai Yuan's identity as a district councilor.

Why wait for the US to pass a bill? If Mr. Zhai gets the copyright, why not just submit a proposal directly to the Hong Kong government?

The pirates didn't give him face, so Xinji also knew a little bit of fighting skills.

Upon hearing this, Kenji Sato showed an expression of admiration and disrespect... but in fact, it was mostly pretense.

Since the Japanese devil was willing to come to Hong Kong, he must have known Zhai Yuan's identity long ago. However, he was slow to respond, fearing that if he spoke too early, he would be at a disadvantage and lose the initiative in the negotiation.

Zhai Yuan waited for a few seconds without getting a response, then grinned.

He was too lazy to beat around the bush and simply said, "To be frank, I want to get the Chinese distribution rights for some of Shueisha's comics."

After that, Zhai Yuan emphasized to Michiko: "It's the Chinese distribution rights, not the Hong Kong region."

Michiko nodded and translated it for the other party.

Sato Kenji smiled slightly and spoke slowly, his tone calm but with a hint of caution: "We are very interested in Zhai Sang's proposal. Shueisha's comics have a high influence in East Asia, especially "Dragon Ball" has been marketed in the European and American markets. Although the Chinese market has not yet been opened, the company has always believed that it is only a matter of time. However, regarding the Chinese distribution authorization, perhaps we need to further discuss the specific details and conditions? For example, understand your company's distribution capabilities and resources in the Chinese market. Secondly, the scope and term of the authorization also need to be clarified. Of course, the copyright sharing and cooperation model are also the contents we need to discuss in detail..."

After the words were spoken, Kenji Sato immediately changed his previous attitude of not being able to get anything out of something even with three sticks.

Clearly organized, clearly well prepared.

Then came the most boring bargaining phase.

Among the titles held by Shueisha, Zhai Yuan is naturally most interested in "Dragon Ball", followed by "Saint Seiya".

In fact, the IP with the highest commercial value in the 1980s was the Gundam series.

Unfortunately, the copyright is tightly held by Bandai, and the robot toys are selling like hot cakes, so it is impossible to sell them to others.

After some discussion.

Zhai Yuan offered HK$2000 million and HK$1700 million per year respectively for the Chinese licenses for the "Dragon Ball" and "Saint Seiya" comics, buying out the rights for the next five years, including a priority renewal option after the copyright expires.

Then there is the screening rights for the animation.

It is much cheaper than comics, with a TV station charging HK$8 per minute for copyright.

Unfortunately, Shueisha sold the copyright of the derivative figures of the two works to Bandai in advance.

The copyright of film and television works is held by Toei Animation.

Copyright agencies are scattered.

With the idea of taking advantage of others, Zhai Yuan proposed to buy out the copyright of the other party's electronic game.

Kenji Sato discussed with the people around him for a while, and then went out to call the Toyo headquarters.

"Zhai Sang, Japanese game companies, led by Nintendo, SEGA, Capcom, and Konami, have made remarkable achievements in game openness in recent years."

Kenji Sato turned back and said, "Although video games are still in their infancy, we believe that they will be a huge market in the future, so Shueisha can only accept the plan of joint development and has no intention of selling the game copyright business for the time being."

Zhai Yuan was slightly disappointed.

I thought that since electronic games were not yet popular, if Japanese people didn't know the value of the goods, the price might be lower, but they weren't stupid.

Fortunately, cooperative development is not unacceptable.

An agreement was finally reached on the video game rights for Dragon Ball and Saint Seiya, allowing Shueisha to maximize and cross-media cooperation with Jiuyi.

Regarding the specific profit sharing and cooperation model, Kenji Sato still needs to return to Japan for internal discussion and evaluation. This time he can only sign a letter of intent with Zhai Yuan.

"This is really troublesome." Zhai Yuan rubbed his brows, turned his head and looked at Nishixie Michiko, and said: "We have negotiated the two popular works, and then talk to them about the authorization of other works..."

…………

"The total price is about 7000 million Hong Kong dollars per year."

After seeing off Kenji Sato in the afternoon, Zhai Yuan called the art editor-in-chief of the Jiuyi Daily.

Li Huizhen, the pioneering writer of Hong Kong girls' comics.

"I got the Chinese distribution rights for Dragon Ball, Saint Seiya, Cat's Eye, Fist of the North Star, City Hunter, Kinnikuman... 20 comics of all sizes from Shueisha for five years."

"Forbidden Fruit Daily used to have an office building and a printing factory in Tseung Kwan O Industrial Estate. Next, I plan to set up two publishing houses, one for comics and the other for novels."

"Sister Huizhen is a senior in the Hong Kong comics industry, with more experience than Huang Yulang, so I would like to ask you to be in charge of the comics business of the publishing house. The initial plan is to use those works of Dongyang to seize the market scale, and use these five years to create our own comics and publish them simultaneously. After the copyright expires, I may not renew the contract with Dongyang. I hope that under the leadership of Sister Huizhen, the publishing house can throw away the crutches of Dongyang comics and move forward vigorously."

Li Huizhen was obviously shocked by the price of 7000 million.

At that time, the price of a genuine comic book in Hong Kong could be sold for 20 Hong Kong dollars, while the Japanese comics introduced by the Seal Books series were in the range of 25 to 30 yuan.

The best-selling magazine in Hong Kong this year, "Chinese Hero", is said to have sold 20 copies per issue, but the actual sales were only about 17 copies.

7000 million Hong Kong dollars? With such a small market in Hong Kong, how many top-selling products would it take to make back the investment?
(End of this chapter)