So what if I work with celebrities?

The outstanding performance of "Joyful Encounters" in Taiwan naturally attracted the attention of overseas distributors.

Cathay and Shaw Brothers, who control cinemas in Southeast Asia, both sent people to contact Xu Zan.

However, since the film was funded by the gang, Old Xu couldn't make decisions on his own; he had to at least give the sailors face.

In the martial arts world, ethics are paramount. Even underlings must follow this ironclad rule when they rise to power, or they'll become scoundrels.

"I don't know anything about this, you handle it!" The sailor suffered a loss last time, as the profits that his branch was originally guaranteed to get were "ambushed" by several theater owners.

The Bamboo Union and the Four Seas Gang have clashed in Taipei. Naturally, the two gangs need to pay their brothers. But can the gangs actually do that?

This movie grossed 14 million at the box office, but only 7 million ended up in the company's account. After deducting taxes, they would be lucky to have 3.8 million left.

With so many people from the gang this time, each branch made exorbitant demands. The sailor's leader, Grey Duck, pressed his head down, forcing him to agree.

Two million was gone in one go, and the sailor was heartbroken! The movie cost eight hundred thousand to make, but in the end, he only made one million.

"Brother, don't be discouraged, we can make another movie. How much will the gang invest this time?" Xu Zan asked.

"You have a new script? Let me take a look?" The sailor's voice rose eight octaves.

"No, but you know my capabilities, brother. This time, I want a share of the box office profits, not just the director's fee," Xu Zan said.

"You! You're playing this game with me too?" The sailor was furious when he heard about the box office revenue sharing, as if his tail had been stepped on.

He stood up, pointed out the window, and launched into another tirade against the theater owners, cursing them to have sons without an anus. After shouting for a while, seeing that Xu Zan remained silent, he sat back down.

"Sigh! I can tell you're an ambitious guy. As the older brother, what will others think of me if I don't support you now? Tell me, I want to hear your opinion!"

"My director's fee for the next film is 250,000, and I want 15% of the box office revenue. If the total box office revenue in Taiwan exceeds 10 million again, I want 20%," Hsu Tsan said, counting on her fingers.

"What? Then how come the gang isn't making any money at all?" the sailor asked.

"I mean the box office revenue we get."

"Oh, okay. But you have to make money first! Otherwise..." The sailor sighed. As soon as he made money, his brothers would get envious and keep asking him to invest in his movies.

"Brother, how about the branch buys a movie theater?"

Why?

"That way we can control the box office and help our brothers with some expenses. After all, it's open 24 hours a day, so there will always be people watching movies." Xu Zan didn't say it explicitly, and whether the sailor could understand was his business.

He planned to accumulate initial wealth within one or two years. By then, he wouldn't need to be subservient to the Bamboo Union; instead, some people within the Bamboo Union would need him.

Hsu Tsan felt that her next film should be an art film, since the soil of Taiwan couldn't nurture other types of films.

The Information Services and Cultural Services have tightened their censorship of films to an unprecedented level, with gambling, pornography, and violence being strictly restricted.

Therefore, many great directors either made films in the style of Qiong Yao's films or films depicting rural life. This system caused Taiwanese films to crash as soon as they took off.

Starting in the mid-to-late 1970s, the profits of Taiwan's film and television industry were taken away by Hong Kong films, Japanese films, and Hollywood blockbusters. In addition, the local film industry was subsidized by state-owned film studios for their patriotic themes, which stifled the roots of film innovation, and the film industry began to languish.

Xu Zan is now a nobody, powerless to change anything. He can only make money in this narrow space and then run away to Hong Kong, where it's a free market where he can film however he wants.

In the afternoon, he met with Xia Yun, the sales manager of Guotai.

Xu Zan didn't know much about Cathay, only that it was a company that only had cinemas and film distribution left after Cathay went bankrupt.

Xia Yun has a square face, medium build, and looks very kind, with the air of a Southeast Asian businessman.

"Mr. Xu, please rest assured that Cathay has a very strong presence in Southeast Asia, with nearly a thousand cinemas covering almost all cities."

"I think Mr. Xia must have heard about some of the security incidents on the island. I don't want similar things to happen in Southeast Asia," Xu Zan said with a smile.

"We are a large company, and we have our own bottom line."

Xia Yun offered two cooperation models: one was a buyout, in which he would spend one million Hong Kong dollars to buy out the screening rights of "Joyful Face" in Southeast Asia.

Secondly, the arrangement is a prepayment plus box office revenue sharing: the prepayment is HK$300,000, and in terms of box office revenue sharing, Panda and Cathay will split the profits 40/60 in the first month, and Cathay will take 70% starting from the second month.

Box office revenue will be settled and paid out within three months.

After seeing Xia Yun off, Xu Zan met with people from the Shao family again, only to be surprised to find that the visitor was Miss Fang. He had heard of this legendary figure extensively in his previous life.

She didn't come from a good background. In the 1950s, she met Mr. Shao when she performed "A Perfect Match" at the Shao Theatre in Singapore.

This strong woman was the head of the purchasing department at Shaw Brothers Film Company in the late 1960s, where she strictly controlled every expenditure.

Rumor has it that she even interferes with the toilet paper supply. This has caused widespread resentment among directors, actors, and staff at Shaw Brothers.

With Mr. Zou leaving Shao's, Ms. Fang transferred to the production department, where she essentially took control of the entire company.

If Xu Zan were a director at Shao's, he would naturally be dissatisfied with her, but as a company manager, Miss Fang is indeed quite capable.

The Shaw Brothers made so much money, and TVB was able to consistently outperform other television stations, all thanks to Ms. Fong's "demanding" efforts.

Many people may not know that the extravagance and falsification of accounts in the film and television industry are extremely exaggerated. If the cash flow were like that of the Pentagon, they would have to eat imported lobsters and top-grade steaks every day, and a single prop cup would cost thousands of dollars.

Film crews are like a江湖 (jianghu, a term referring to a world of martial arts and chivalry). The big brother (director) is happy and generous with his brothers' share of the profits, regardless of whether the boss is losing money or not. Anyway, they make every penny they earn.

So from this perspective, Miss Fang is absolutely right. As for the closure of Shaw Brothers Film Studio, it was just a slightly larger grasshopper swept away by the tide of the times.

"Ms. Fang, I've heard so much about you!" Xu Zan invited her to sit down and asked the company's receptionist to buy some drinks. "Under your management, Shao's has produced many blockbuster movies in recent years."

He recounted Li Hanxiang's erotic films, Zhang Che's kung fu films, and Liu Jialiang, who had just been promoted to director.

"Mr. Xu, you've become a multi-million dollar director at such a young age. Your future is limitless! Are you interested in joining Shao's? I guarantee the salary will be very generous!" Ms. Fang said with a smile.

After chatting for a while, the two got down to business. At this point, Ms. Fang's attitude changed. She started discussing the cooperation meticulously, down to every single detail.

It even explained how to promote "Joyful Encounters" in Southeast Asia, including the style and size of the promotional posters and where to hang them.

They also promoted the play through television, radio, newspapers, magazines, and other means.

Then they began listing the number and location of Shaw Brothers cinemas in Southeast Asia, as well as the number of viewers for each blockbuster film.

"So, Shaw Brothers can give me HK$15 million, and if the box office in Southeast Asia exceeds US$3 million, they can give me 15% of the box office revenue?" Xu Zan asked in surprise.

Three million US dollars is equivalent to 120 million New Taiwan Dollars, which is an extremely exaggerated box office figure. To put this in perspective, Jackie Chan's "Drunken Master" only grossed 20 million US dollars in total across East Asia.

That was still the highest-grossing kung fu film among Chinese-language movies; the ceiling for art films is quite low. When Chinese-language art films enter Southeast Asia, they have to compete with local art films and don't have a clear advantage.

"Mr. Xu, you must be very confident in your film, right?" Ms. Fang smiled. "In the future, we can collaborate more deeply. As you know, Shaw Brothers has the best film resources among Chinese people."