Entertainment Era: My Good Sister Is All Over the World

After mailing the letter, Huang Wenbin would have to start writing his novel.

He has quite a few manuscripts to write.

Let's put the scripts from the other film studios aside for now. Even if we write them for them, they'll probably end up like Xi'an Film Studio, unable to start filming for months, and the pay won't be much.

Therefore, he planned to swindle some money from Li Heizi first.

Although Li Heizi is quick to anger and easily irritated, he is always very generous when it comes to paying money, and people in Hong Kong have no reason to criticize him for that.

Most importantly, Li Heizi paid a deposit.

Huang Wenbin recalled what Li Hanxiang had said to him that day. It seemed that he wanted a Ming Dynasty character, an assassin character, and something else.

After thinking for a few minutes, he realized that Li Heizi hadn't given him any useful information.

If that's the case, then we don't need to worry about it anymore.

Huang Wenbin happened to draw a movie set in the Ming Dynasty last month, which is "The Footprints of the Japanese Pirates" directed by Xu Haofeng.

Xu Haofeng is quite an extraordinary person. He initially studied oil painting, but became famous for writing novels.

It is said that his second maternal grandfather was a prominent figure in the martial arts world and forced him to learn martial arts from a young age, but he was not interested and only liked to listen to stories of martial artists from the Republican era.

In 93, he was admitted to Yenching Film Academy. After graduation, he went to work for the Writers Association, but instead of pursuing his main career, he became an actor. However, he became famous for his documentary literature "The Lost Martial Arts World".

After writing martial arts novels for several years, he suddenly wanted to make movies, which led to his debut novel, *The Sword Identity*. He later served as screenwriter and martial arts consultant for Wong Kar-wai's *The Grandmaster*. His most famous work is probably *The Master*, starring Liao Fan. His subsequent films were never released for various reasons.

This person is actually somewhat similar to Yuan Heping, and has a similar role to Wang Yuyan.

He was an expert in both martial arts theory and anecdotes of the martial arts world.

He was a man of strong emotions. Once, at an exchange meeting held in Beijing, Japanese directors were asked how they incorporated their understanding of their nation and people into their films. One Japanese director said he only cared about sex and violence. This drew a round of applause, as everyone felt that this director was the one who truly knew how to make movies.

Xu Haofeng just thought this guy was an idiot. He thought Japanese films would die in the hands of these people sooner or later, and he couldn't get involved in this kind of thing.

He is more concerned with the survival and struggle of individuals in the era, and how to maintain elegance and sophistication at all times.

"The Sword Identity" is a very counterintuitive and unconventional martial arts film. It even deconstructs the concepts of martial arts and the martial arts world. The characters in the film often talk nonsense in a serious manner, saying things that seem impressive but are actually very unrealistic theories, but they can still form their own school of thought, which is very magical.

While watching his movies, I often find myself wondering, "Is this a martial arts film?"

Another point is that his movies usually feature ugly fighting scenes, but the outcome is decided very quickly.

The film tells the story of the martial arts world in Shuangye City during the Wanli era of the Ming Dynasty. After the disappearance of Japanese pirates, the martial arts community was controlled by four major families. Anyone wishing to teach martial arts there had to obtain their permission. One day, a young man carrying a Japanese sword suddenly appeared, breaking through this barrier and provoking a siege by the four families. The four families falsely accused him of being a remnant of the Japanese pirates and hired their top martial arts masters to kill the young man.

The story is actually quite traditional, following the pattern of "an outsider entering a small town, causing the town's powerful forces to ostracize him, and eventually leading to conflict".

However, its core is unconventional, especially the image of the Japanese sword. It seems to be a relic of the Japanese pirates, but it is actually a product of Qi Jiguang's improvement. But because it was associated with the Japanese and was too powerful, it was banned from being practiced by the major martial arts families.

It took Huang Wenbin several days to write the script.

Some minor changes were made, but they are harmless.

As for how Li Hanxiang, a director of both feature films and erotic films, will make this movie, that's none of his business.

He wrote another letter to Li Heizi, telling him about the price increase. He said he could sell the first script to him for 30,000 yuan, but the prices for the later ones would have to go up.

Talking like that to other directors would probably get you scolded, but you really don't need to be polite with Li Heizi.

Next, I needed to come up with a beginning for the novel I promised to write about "Harvest".

When he went to the post office earlier, he picked up a letter that his father had written to him.

The letter mentioned some trivial matters at home, but the main point was that the several hundred yuan he sent back had shocked his family.

His father didn't dare to make a fuss, only telling outsiders that he had sent back twenty yuan. That was enough to shock the whole village.

Going to university can actually make you money.

After careful consideration, his father kept only one hundred yuan and sent the rest back to Huang Wenbin.

Huang Wenbin realized that he had indeed been somewhat inconsiderate. He decided to continue sending ten or eight yuan home regularly, just enough to improve their lives.

……

It's almost midnight in Hong Kong.

Golden Princess Cinemas, cinemas in Kowloon.

Liu Songren, along with Du Qifeng, Chung Chuh-hung, and several close friends, came to watch the midnight screening.

Today is the day his movie "The Deadly Gold in the Cold Mountains" opens its midnight screening.

In Hong Kong, before a film is officially released, it usually has to be shown in midnight screenings for a week to see how it performs before proceeding with further promotion and scheduling.

Moreover, midnight screenings account for a significant portion of the overall box office revenue.

There's even a saying in the industry: "Midnight screenings are the litmus test for box office success."

If the midnight screenings flop, it will most likely be officially shown for a week as a token gesture before being taken off the screens.

Liu Songren's body involuntarily tensed up, and his face turned somewhat pale.

He has invested all his savings, more than 30 yuan, in this movie, and later borrowed another 20 yuan.

If the movie fails at the box office, he'll probably have to work like a slave for several years to recover.

Just as nervous as Liu Songren, Johnnie To was very nervous. This was his film debut, and if it didn't succeed, he would definitely have to go back to TVB to do manual labor, and he would probably face a lot of ridicule from others.

The most relaxed one was Cherie Chung, who neither participated in the investment nor had to bear any consequences.

She comforted him, saying, "Relax, the movie is so good, it'll definitely turn out well!"

"Yes." Liu Songren chuckled twice and forced himself to take a breath.

The reason he was so nervous was because Golden Princess Cinemas didn't have high hopes for his film. After filming, they only gave him a month to edit and dub, and then it was released hastily.

The release date is also in a rather off-peak time slot, more than half a month away from the Christmas season.

Fortunately, there aren't any blockbuster movies in this release window.

They are all pornographic films that flirt with nudity, such as "The Peerless Twins," which is a bad copy of Chu Yuan's "The Peerless Twins." The word "娇" in Cantonese means to be slutty or promiscuous.

There are also action-packed films with lots of blood and sweat, such as "One Courage, Two Strengths, Three Kung Fu", and gangster films like "The Rules of the Game".

In comparison, his films do have some marketability.

"Whether we live or die, it all depends on this." Du Qifeng let out a long sigh and said to Liu Songren and the others, "Let's go."