1991: The Era of Hong Kong Dramas

The following day, Huo Sheng bid farewell to his dormitory and officially began his regular work schedule.

His office was the second cubicle in the room, next to the producer and director.

This was exactly what Huo Sheng wanted to do. While writing the script, he observed Wei Jiahui and Yuan Yingming's work as much as possible.

Wai Ka-fai spends most of his time away from his cubicle, but you can tell from the personnel changes that he is very organized and methodical.

First, he assembled the production's art department, led by the art director and in collaboration with the production designers. They quickly designed the filming locations and began renovating key locations such as the Fang family's old house and the Ding family's mansion.

It's definitely not possible to design and build a building directly. TVB has houses from various eras. As long as we make slight modifications so that the audience doesn't get confused between the shows, we can use them directly.

The only somewhat expensive scenario is the stock exchange.

No TVB drama had ever set up a large number of scenes there before, so the "Greedy Era" production team had to pay for it themselves to find an unused bank set at Clearwater Bay Studios and completely renovate it.

The finance team arrived shortly after.

They are one of the few departments in the entire production team that are directly managed by TVB and not under the production team's jurisdiction.

Nominally it's to assist, but in reality it's to prevent producers from abusing their power for personal gain.

That afternoon, TVB sent a middle-aged male accountant and a young female cashier. After they arrived, they quickly transferred the eight million to the account and began preparing the budget.

Without this step, the entire production team would be unable to function.

The most important part of the budget is, of course, the salary.

TVB has always implemented a basic salary plus bonus system, which means that staff members receive a basic salary from TVB every day to ensure that ordinary staff members such as art directors and production assistants do not starve.

The production team will then provide additional bonuses and profit sharing, which will come from the production budget.

For example, Huo Sheng's monthly salary of 16000 yuan is a basic salary, which is uniformly distributed by TVB. He receives this amount even when he is not filming.

As for additional bonuses or performance bonuses, they would have to come from the production crew's accounts.

In short, the more work you do in a group, the higher your income.

Unfortunately, Run Run Shaw did not have high hopes for the "Grandeur" project, and the budget was very tight, leaving little room for bonuses.

Fortunately, most of the staff here are Wai Ka-fai's regular team, so they have a spirit of sharing weal and woe and no one complains.

As the crew members gradually arrived, Huo Sheng discovered something quite strange: in TVB's workplace culture, screenwriters held a much higher status than he had imagined.

When he first arrived, he was worried that as a newcomer with no education or experience, others might not take him seriously, just like Liang Jiashu, and he would have no way to win people's respect.

But after so long, Huo Sheng realized he had worried for nothing.

Because he is a member of the creative team, everyone, regardless of age, will respectfully call him "Creative Director Huo" or "Teacher Huo" when they see him, whether they are art director or accountant.

When Wei Jiahui and Yuan Yingming were not around, he was the highest leader of this cubicle.

They would come and knock on his office to report any problems they had, even if Huo Sheng couldn't offer any advice.

This made Huo Sheng feel a little uncomfortable. After all, when he was a screenwriter in his previous life, not to mention the sugar daddies, even the actors had more status than him. They could change the lines as they pleased without even informing him. He was worse off than the service provider.

This discomfort also affected one person: Ning Wan, the assistant.

Ning Wan was also not used to it.

In her memory, screenwriting teachers either treated their assistants like personal maids, ordering them around to buy coffee, read newspapers, and clean dorm rooms...

Do whatever makes you comfortable.

Either treat your assistant like a human typewriter and computer, dictating a passage and having them write it down, or randomly ask you a question and make you search for information until your hands are sore.

In short, it's a tool that can be used at will, making it the perfect choice for home or work.

But Huo Sheng had no such idea at all.

He spent most of his time quietly writing scripts in his office. Ning Wan would deliver his meals to him, and he would politely say thank you. He never let her touch the manuscript.

This is very different from the other main creators and screenwriters.

She was respectful to her assistant, incredibly hardworking, and, most importantly, quite talented. Ning Wan had secretly read her drafts while helping to tidy up the office; there were almost no discarded drafts, and they were all well-developed plots with many ingenious ideas that Ning Wan couldn't have come up with even if she racked her brains.

No wonder someone my age can become a lead screenwriter; it's truly impressive.

Ning Wan unknowingly changed her idol, Wei Jiahui, to Huo Sheng.

He's such a talented screenwriter, I wonder when I'll be able to gain his trust!

……

Huo Sheng was completely unaware of the above psychological activities.

Actually, he also wanted to take a break in the office instead of spinning like a top constantly typing.

But he had reasons for having to do it—

Yuan Yingming has already brought his filming team to the location in the past few days.

The director of photography, lighting technician, sound engineer, production assistant... most of them were old crew members who had worked together on "Looking Back in Anger". They knew each other well, quickly finalized their salaries and project divisions, and then plunged into the studio, working non-stop.

Huo Sheng really wanted to go with them.

If your goal is to become a producer, even if you're not an expert in every aspect, you should at least have a general understanding, otherwise you won't be able to react when something goes wrong on set.

However, he was too embarrassed to ask for help since he hadn't finished the script assignment given to him by Wai Ka-fai. So, he could only bury himself in writing the script for the next two days.

Before he could finish writing, Ning Wan found him and said, "Teacher Huo, Producer Wei and Director Yuan want you to go to the set."

"What's wrong?"

Huo Sheng was puzzled.

"The set has been built, and Producer Wai said he'd like you to take a look and see if there are any problems."

We can finally go out for some fresh air!

Huo Sheng was overjoyed. He immediately stood up, stretched his back which had become stiff from sitting for several days, and followed Ning Wan to the "Ding Family Old Residence" located on the early 20th century street.

This was his first time visiting the Clearwater Bay film set.

In 1961, the Shaw Brothers built Clearwater Bay Studios, then the largest privately owned film studio, next to their administrative building.

After Shaw Brothers ceased film production in the 1980s, TVB renovated this place into Clearwater Bay TV City, which housed sixteen recording studios with a total area of ​​over 6500 square meters.

It wasn't until 2003, when TVB headquarters moved to TVB City in Tseung Kwan O, that the Clear Water Bay film set gradually fell into disuse.

Although it is called a city, in terms of appearance, it is more like a hodgepodge of street scenes from 20th-century Hong Kong and Shanghai, with churches, theaters, shops, teahouses and pawnshops mixed together. It is a common filming location for TVB to shoot period dramas.

The scene where Xu Wenqiang and Feng Chengcheng first met in "Shanghai Bund" was filmed on the early Republican-era street in Clearwater Bay.

The street was a maze, and it took them a lot of effort. They even had to ask a stagehand who was moving props on the side of the road before they finally found their way and stopped in front of a dilapidated tenement building.

This is where Ting Hai and Law Wai Ling live, their two households next to each other. The stairwell is so narrow that only one person can pass at a time, the walls are peeling and the stair railings are rusty, creaking loudly when stepped on.

Wai Ka-fai was already standing in front of the door, talking to the art director.

"Sorry I'm a little late."

Huo Sheng greeted them, but Wei Jiahui didn't seem to care. Seeing them arrive, he tucked the blueprints under his arm and greeted them with a smile.

"Ah Sheng, what do you think of our setup?"